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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24780535">Youthful Mess</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/YoonHaeJu/pseuds/YoonHaeJu'>YoonHaeJu</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>AOMG, GOT7, Monsta X (Band), Park Hyung Sik - Fandom, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Multi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 09:02:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>16,426</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24780535</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/YoonHaeJu/pseuds/YoonHaeJu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When six friends suddenly set off to Korea, they don’t know what to expect, but that just adds to the thrill. All they want is an adventure; they want to have fun and live with no worries. But of course, life never goes as you want it to. Finding themselves in sticky situations, but they have each other to rely on so they can virtually get out of anything. One thing they didn’t expect was being able to see they’re favorite K-Pop idols up close and personal. From adventure-packed to something more, these girls are in for a ride.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dealing with five other people in the same apartment can honestly be exhausting. You can never expect what they’re going to do, especially since they’re my best friends.</p><p>I’ve honestly questioned why I wanted to live with them in the first place.  Sure, we’re all friends, but we really got on each other’s nerves and probably wanted to kill each other, but nonetheless, we cared for each other and wanted what was best.</p><p>We've already lived together for a year, but I honestly don't know how we have survived together.</p><p>Thank god, we all graduated and have somewhat stable jobs in Austin, TX, which proved to be a gateway to the jobs that we have now.</p><p>Out of all of us, Sul Jang Mi is the only one that doesn’t have a stable job. She’s a freelance Graphic Designer, so she’s basically doing different jobs on a daily. Jang Mi is the oldest in the group and the shortest. At 5ft, she’s usually mistaken as the maknae or one of the youngest ones. She has medium-length dark brown hair, droopy-looking eyes, a somewhat pale face, and legs for days. There are several times that she’s been asked for an I.D. and been questioned if it’s legit because of her youthful appearance. I think it’s because she’s always at the gym working out. I swear if you can’t find Jang Mi drawing at her desk in our shared room, then she’s at the gym. She’s seriously fit and eats the healthiest out of all of us, but then again, she is vegan, so that’s expected. She was the only one with a boyfriend, but honestly, he didn’t know how to appreciate what he had. None of us really liked him, but we couldn’t say much.</p><p>I’m a Network Administrator at Xerox, which is a document solutions company. Most of my days are spent walking around the building making sure that everyone is getting a stable Internet connection and nothing goes down. I’m always checking the server rooms, making sure that they’re cold enough for the machines and that everything is in order. I honestly love my job because I have little to no human interaction, and sometimes we need that break from people. I’m the quietest of the group and the 2nd oldest. Unlike Jang Mi, I’m seen as much older than the rest of my friends, but I’m pretty much used to it by now. As the 2nd oldest, I’m also the 2nd shortest in the group, at only 5’1. I have medium-length black hair, average eyes with double eyelids, a tan complexation, and an average body shape. Nothing special to me, at least I think so.</p><p>Bang A Yeong has the highest paying job out of all of us. She’s a veterinarian that worked at one of the best vet clinics in Austin. As the 3rd oldest in the group, she’s the mom of the group. She always carried a first aid kit in her purse or whatever we may need. A Yeong was always prepared for anything – I swear if a zombie apocalypse happened, she would be the one with a bunker full of supplies for 100 years. She also loves gaming, especially on her Xbox. She loved playing GTA with Hyun Ok. A Yeong was average height, at 5’5, she was the ideal height for many guys. A Yeong has light brown hair that flowed all the way her butt, and I honestly don’t know how she managed her hair. She must use magic, or something cause damn, it was nice.</p><p>Standing at 5’9ft, Min Yu Gyeong was the tallest in the entire group. She also had shiny pin-straight black hair that almost reached her butt, which complimented her tan completion. She was voluminous in all the right places and was what every girl strived to be and what guys liked in girls. Adding to her already amazing traits, she was a chef. So, she cooked well, and we all loved her for it because God help us, we couldn’t cook to save our lives. Yu Gyeong would cook for us before she would leave for work every day. So when we would wake up, we would have breakfast, lunch, and dinner ready for us. We surely appreciated it and loved her so much. She worked at a famous restaurant in downtown Austin, one of the finest ones around.</p><p>The only one that would usually work night shifts was Ra Mi Na. She was a registered nurse at Seton Hospital in downtown Austin. She was usually home when the rest of us were at work and vice versa. But there was the rare occasion, she was home when we were. Mi Na was the most patient one in the group and probably was a bit soft-spoken, but she managed to get her point across. At 5’6ft, she the 2nd tallest in the group but the 2nd youngest. With shoulder-length brown hair, round eyes, and a proportional body, she was just about every guys’ dream.  </p><p>Finally is the maknae of the group, Oh Hyun Ok. She was hands down a daredevil and didn’t give two shits about anything. She worked at a production company as a director, and she was good at what she did. I’ve seen some of her work, and I must say that she does amazing. She really knows what she is doing, even though sometimes, I did question her sanity. She was of average height, with long brown hair. She also had a proportional body and round eyes. As the maknae of the group, she managed to get away with a lot of things, much to the annoyance of everyone.</p><p>   <br/>We were all in the living room and dining room area, either watching TV or eating. Which was a very normal occurrence for us. It was a little after 6, and we were all tired from work, luckily it was Friday, so we had the next two days to ourselves. Even Mi Na had off, which was surprising, but we accepted because who knew when this was going to happen again.<br/>    <br/>“What should we do this weekend?” Min Yu Gyeong asked. She had her elbow propped on the dining table as she rested her cheek on the palm of her hand, and using her other hand, she tapped the wood surface.</p><p>“I don’t know. What should we do?” Bang A Yeong asked as she stared blankly at Yu Gyeong.</p><p>“Let’s go skydiving!” Oh Hyun Ok exclaimed as she flapped her arms wildly in the air. Everyone in the room just stared at Hyuk Ok who’s facial expression soured.</p><p>“Fine, alright. No skydiving,” she said, defeated as she sat back down and continued to watch TV.</p><p>“Let’s go to a water park,” Ra Mi Na suggested as she looked around.</p><p>“No. I don’t want to get any more tan,” I said as I looked at her. I was serious. I don’t know how much more tan I could get, but I wasn’t about to find out.</p><p>“Why not?” Mi Na questioned.</p><p>“Because I just don’t want to,” I responded as I took a sip from my glass full of sweet tea.</p><p>“So, then what?” Sul Jang Mi asked curiously about what we would eventually agree on.</p><p>“Why don’t we just simply stay at home, drink a few beers and eat fried chicken?” I suggested as I tapped on the now empty glass. Sweet tea was my weakness. I would go through gallons of it in like 2 to 3 days. I’m amazed I don’t have any cavities.</p><p>“That’s a great idea!” Mi Na exclaimed.</p><p>“Hello, vegan in the house,” Jang Mi said as she rolled her eyes.</p><p>“We can get you a fruit platter or something,” Hyun Ok shrugged as she continued to stare at the TV. Looking over, I saw that she was watching some Jackson videos as she laughed at his stupidity. I shook my head but slightly laughed because she was seriously in love that him. Then again, I couldn’t say anything because I had my idols that I loved so, it was whatever.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Later that night</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t you ever wonder what it would be like in Korea?” Jang Mi asked as we both laid in our beds. We lived in a three-bedroom apartment, so there were two to a room. Me and Jang Mi shared a room, while Hyun Ok and Mi Na shared the other, and A Yeong and Yu Gyeong shared the last room. <br/>   <br/>“Of course I do. My parents keep talking about it, but I’ve never really gone to visit family. You know?” I said as I stared at the ceiling. She sparked curiosity in my mind, and a million thoughts went zooming through my head. I really wanted to visit Korea, so did everyone else except Yu Gyeong, who for some reason was totally obsessed with Japan. So we would probably have to go to Japan just for her.</p><p>"Yeah, I understand. I don't think any of us have ever been to Korea, right? Why don't we plan to go sometime during the summer if we can?"</p><p>"What?" I propped myself up on my elbows to look over at her as she, too was staring at the ceiling.</p><p>"Yeah. Go to Korea, all of us," she smiled happily as she turned her head in my direction.</p><p>"I guess..." I didn't even know if we would even survive Korea. Out of all of us, only me and Jang Mi speak fluent Korean, and even then, sometimes I stumble on my words. When you grow in a household that forces you to speak your native tongue, you have no choice but to learn it even if you’re bad at it.</p><p>We spent most of the night just talking and laughing about random things that happen to us at work or whatever happens in our lives.</p><p>A few weeks later</p><p>I was extremely exhausted because of work. We had difficult clients come in today and were very much demanding. I don’t know why my boss wanted me to deal with them when he knows that I hate dealing with clients. For god’s sake, I’m a Network Administrator, therefore I don’t need to deal with customers. I just administrate the network in the building, simple as that. Sighing deeply, I went up the steps to our 2nd-floor apartment. I dragged my feet in the process but I eventually made it. Taking my keys out of my bag, I unlock the door and push my way in.</p><p>As I walked inside the apartment, after a long day, I find Hyun Ok and Yu Gyeong arguing again. Honestly, this wasn't new - actually, this was getting old. They were always arguing about something. Taking a deep breath, I walked right past them and went to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. As I opened the fridge, I heard A Yeong yell something from her room, but I didn't understand a word she said. Shrugging, I grabbed the bottle of water and closed the fridge door to walk out of the kitchen to head to my room.</p><p>Even then, they were still arguing. Rolling my eyes, I closed the door in hopes of muffling their argument, to no avail. Taking off my shoes and throwing my bag onto my bed, I found Jang Mi at her desk drawing something as she nodded to music that was blasting through her earphones. I didn't bother to try getting her attention as walked towards the closet. I took off my work clothes and threw them on the floor as I grabbed a T-shirt and some shorts. As I put them on, I heard Jang Mi walking around in the room.</p><p>"You're alive," I laughed as I poked my head out of the closet.</p><p>"Yes, thank god," she sighed as she dropped onto her bed. "But I couldn't find a job!" she mumbled into her pillow. Oh, the struggles of being a freelance graphic designer. I sometimes wondered if she would ever find a stable job somewhere. I wanted to help her, but I honestly didn’t know anyone in that field that could help her.</p><p>"Still? I would have thought you would have found some kind of job by now," I said as I sat down on my bed.</p><p>"Me too, but there are some opportunities. I just have to look into it,"</p><p>"Good. Good, but change of topic for a second. What are Hyun Ok and Yu Gyeong arguing about?" I asked as I pointed towards the door.</p><p>Jang Mi rolled her eyes. "The same old stuff. You know them,"</p><p>Sighing, I got up from my bed and decided to check if they were done with whatever they were arguing about. As I walked out the room, I found A Yeong standing in front of the two as they had their heads down.</p><p>"Could you two please stop it? I'm trying to get some paperwork done!" A Yeong exclaimed. She seemed really angry and who could blame her?</p><p>"Sorry," both Hyun Ok and Yu Gyeong apologized even thought they stared daggers at each other causing A Yeong to get even more angrier than she was.</p><p>Slowly, I walked further out towards the living room, where they were at.</p><p>"Oh, Hae, you're home. I didn't realize you were back," she turned towards me shocking me a little.</p><p>"Y-Yeah. I am,"</p><p>She smiled towards me before turning back towards the maknae and the 4th oldest of the group. She gave them a look before walking back towards her room and disappearing inside. They glared at each other once more, before going their separate ways. Looking between them, I shrugged and made my way to the kitchen to see if I could find something to eat. Knowing Yu Gyeong, she would have food ready. I would just have to reheat it, but I honestly didn’t mind because that meant I never had to cook.</p><p>Grabbing a few things, I went back to my room and decided to watch a few music videos on my laptop as I ate.</p><p>A little while later, Jang Mi turns around from her desk and looks intently at me.</p><p>"What is it?” I ask as I take a bite of my food as I continue staring at my laptop screen. I knew she was staring at me. Pretty much, I got used to her weird habit but nonetheless I still found it weird.</p><p>"How would you feel, if I got a job in Korea?" she asked.</p><p>Shrugging, I took another bite from my food before answering.</p><p>"I would be excited and a little jealous. Why though?"</p><p>"Well there's this potential job and it's in Korea. It's a full time job," she smiled widely. I could see the excitement in her face and I honestly couldn't feel anymore happy for her.</p><p>"I mean, if you really want to you could take the job. No one is holding you back,"</p><p>"Yeah, but I don't want to leave you guys. I want all of us to go,"</p><p>For some reason, when she said that, I could feel my heart tighten up and I didn't know what to say.</p><p>"I'm just thinking about it. Don't take it too seriously," she weakly smiled before turning back towards her laptop. I couldn't help to think, what it would actually be like to move to Korea. It would probably be really amazing and a dream come true.</p><p> </p><p>Once everyone was home, we gathered in the living room to watch a K-Drama, much to Yu Gyeong's disliking.</p><p>"Can we watch some anime or something?" she whined as she crossed her arms.</p><p>"No!" we all practically shouted at her.</p><p>"Fine," she sunk more into the couch as she sort of watched the K-Drama.</p><p>"What is she doing!? Is she stupid?" Hyun Ok exclaimed. We all laughed at her since she was getting so into the drama. Once that episode ended and we waited for the next episode to start, Jang Mi looked around at everyone.</p><p>"How would you all feel if we all went to Korea?" she asked.</p><p>"What? Korea? Why?" Mi Na asked confused with wide eyes.</p><p>"I got a potential job offer in Korea and it's really promising," she smiled widely with a gleam in her eyes.</p><p>"Doing what?" A Yeong asked.</p><p>"And of all places?! Couldn't it be in Japan?" Yu Gyeong exclaimed with distaste. Everyone stared daggers at her as she rolled her eyes.</p><p>"Well, Starship Entertainment is looking for a Graphic Designer and you know I love Monsta X," Jang Mi smiled so widely and with so much brightness in her expression that she could light up half of Austin. I felt nothing but excitement and happiness for her.</p><p>“Are they looking for a PD by any chance? Or wait no, I’m going to see if Big Hit needs one or even JYP!” Hyun Ok smirked as she got up and ran to her room to only come out seconds later holding onto her laptop. She pratically threw herself onto the couch, bouncing up and down as Yu Gyeong only stared at her with a judging look.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Yu Gyeong shook her head as she turned back to the rest of us.</p><p>“Why Korea?”</p><p>“Because, come on why not?” Jang Mi shrugged.</p><p>“Have you applied yet?” A Yeong asked as she paused the show.</p><p>“Uh… of course, I did. I’m just going to wait and see. Hopefully I get a response back,” she smiled widely.</p><p>“I hope so too,” I smiled at her. We both looked at each other and knew what the other was thinking.</p><p>Once we finished the K-drama, we all sat in the living room talking and laughing until Jang Mi received a text message and her facial expression completely soured. I wasn’t sure if everyone else noticed, but I sure as hell did. When you know someone for so long and share a room with them, you get to know their facial expression. I wondered what it could be, but when I thought about it, I knew who it could be.</p><p>She frowned as she read the text message and once she finished reading it, she sighed to only turn off her phone and put it down. I raised my eyebrow at her and she looked at me, she knew that I knew.</p><p>“What is it?” I asked her as I sunk deeper into the couch.</p><p>Everyone got quiet as they looked between us.</p><p>“N-Nothing,” she stuttered as she looked away.</p><p>“It’s something. Why the face then?”</p><p>“What’s going on?” A Yeong asked as she looked confused like everyone else.</p><p>“It’s nothing,” Jang Mi sighed as she looked down.</p><p>“Whatever it is, you know you can tell. Now spill it before I take your phone away,” Yu Gyeong said sternly.</p><p>Jang Mi took a deep breath as if rethinking all her life choices up to this point. She stared down at the floor, probably contemplating if she told tell us or not, but she really only had one option when it came to Yu Gyeong and that was that she would have to tell us.</p><p>“It’s Felipe,” she sighed heavily as she tapped her phone.</p><p>“What does he want?”</p><p>"More like what did he say?” I said raising my eyebrow. He must have said something to her for her to get this depressed.</p><p>“He…” she paused probably thinking of how to word what she was going to say, but with us, she knew she couldn't filter what she said. “I texted him about the job offer that I told you guys and he doesn’t seem happy about it,”</p><p>“What why?” Mi Na asked confused.</p><p>“Because he obviously doesn’t want her to go to Korea,” I rolled my eyes.</p><p>“Yeah, exactly. I don’t know why he can’t be happy for me,”</p><p>“Screw that motherfucker,” Yu Gyeong said as she looked at Jang Mi sympathetically.</p><p>“You know that the other day he got mad at me because he saw my phone wallpaper and for some reason got jealous that it was a picture of Jay Park,” Jang Mi said as she seemed to get angrier by the minute as she remembered the occurrence.</p><p>“As I said, screw. that. motherfucker,” Yu Gyeong emphasized.</p><p>I felt bad for Jang Mi because Felipe has been nothing but possessive and childish during the year that they have been dating. They of course had their good days, but lately it’s only been bad days and getting worse. Ever since he found out that Jang Mi likes Korean idols, he’s been extra possessive and childish. I didn’t understand what his problem was, because she was obviously going to like K-Pop and Korean Idols. Maybe he felt insecure or that she was going to leave him for a Korean Idol, which seemed really unlikely because come on, we all dream about them but probably will not end up with them right?</p><p>“Why don’t you just break up with him already?” Hyun Ok said as she looked at Jang Mi.</p><p>“Because…”</p><p>“You can’t can you?” Yu Gyeong said.</p><p>Jang Mi weakly smiled causing most of us to roll our eyes.</p><p>“Don’t tell me you love this mother fucker? Cause Jang Mi, I swear to god,” Yu Gyeong was obviously irritated.</p><p>“I mean…”</p><p>Yu Gyeong flipped the pillow she was holding onto the ground. “I swear Jang Mi. Break up with him,”</p><p>“Fine,”</p><p>“You honestly deserve better. If he won’t let you go to Korea, then he’s a fucking retard,” I said adding my two cents.</p><p>“I know. I just I don’t know what to do or say to him you know?”</p><p>“Just tell him you’re going to go to Korea and if he doesn’t like it, then that’s the end of the relationship. Easy,” Hyun Ok said.</p><p>“For you!”</p><p>Jang Mi seemed crushed and defeated and we all wanted what was best for her.</p><p>“When do you think, you’re going to get a response back from Starship?” I asked.</p><p>“I don’t know. But I hope soon, I really want to leave all of this behind,” she sighed as she just stared down at her phone.</p><p>“Did he text you back?”</p><p>“Yeah…” she trailed off as she read whatever he sent her. Yu Gyeong reached over and snatched the phone away.</p><p>“HEY!” Jang Mi tried to get her phone back but with Yu Gyeong, you couldn’t argue with her unless you were Hyun Ok.</p><p>“I don’t want you to go to Korea. No way in hell! What are you even going to do over there? Hook up with your Korean Idols or something? Why do you insist on going so much? I just don’t understand. You have me here, that’s all that matters. So stop it with wanting to go to Korea,” Yu Gyeong read the text message out loud.</p><p>“He’s full of it,” A Yeong muttered. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to kill him. Who was he to tell Jang Mi what do to.</p><p>“Where does he live? So I can mess this guy up,” Yu Gyeong asked.</p><p>“I’m right with you,” Hyun Ok added. Both of them had fires in their eyes.</p><p>“Guys please,” Jang Mi begged.</p><p>“We can’t let him get away with this,” Hyun Ok said.</p><p>“I know, I know. I just need to think things through first,”</p><p>“What is there to think about? Just break up with him!”</p><p>“Alright, fine. But let’s just give him one more chance,”</p><p>“Fine,”</p><p>“One more chance and if he screws up, you’re going to end this relationship,” Yu Gyeong said before getting up and headed towards her room.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>2 Days Later</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“I GOT THE EMAIL!” Jang Mi screamed on top of her lungs as she ran out of the room and into the hallway that connected all our rooms. I swear, our neighbors even heard her through the walls.</p><p>“What?” A Yeong came out of her room confused.</p><p>“I got the email! They want me to go to Korea!” She jumped all over the place with glee.</p><p>“I knew you would get the job!” I exclaimed as I hugged her.</p><p>“We knew you could do it!”</p><p>“Wait wait wait, so does this mean we’re all going to Korea?” Yu Gyeong frowned.</p><p>“DUH!” we all exclaimed.</p><p>“They gave me two weeks to get my stuff ready, so we all need to notify your place of work,” Jang Mi said.</p><p>“Okay, but the question is how is Felipe going to react?” I asked. This was a serious question and one only Jang Mi would know the answer to.</p><p>“I don’t know, but let's find out,” she sighed as she went back to our room. Seconds later she came out looking down at her phone as she typed a message to him.</p><p>We all stared at her, as she typed away.</p><p>“Let’s go sit down and wait,” A Yeong said. We all followed her lead and sat down in the living room in silence.</p><p>Once Jang Mi pressed send, we all waited patiently for his reply. This would determine if this would be the end of the relationship. I think it was save to say that we all wanted it to be the end, but you never know.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It seemed like an eternity, but Felipe finally replied after ten minutes of waiting. By then, we were all on edge and wondered what he could have possibly said.</p>
<p>    “He replied,” Jang Mi quietly said as she just stared at her phone. It lit up for a few seconds before turning back off. As she stared at the black screen, we all just looked at each other before Yu Gyeong took the phone away. This time though, Jang Mi didn’t retaliate.</p>
<p>    “What do you mean you got the job? Didn’t I tell you that you couldn’t go to Korea? What about us? Do you even care? What’s so great about Korea? I don’t understand why you have this urge to go to Korea so badly. I guess you just never cared about how I felt and just whatever you wanted,” Yu Gyeong read out loud.</p>
<p>    “He’s such an asshole,” A Yeong said as she shook her head.</p>
<p>    “Break up with him now,”</p>
<p>    “Yes,”</p>
<p>    “Do it,”</p>
<p>    “He’s not worth it,”</p>
<p>    By then, we were all staring at Jang Mi, waiting for her to say something. She seemed a little out of it, but who wouldn’t.</p>
<p>    “Alright. I’m not going to let him hold me back from my dreams,” she said.</p>
<p>    “Did you want me to do it? Cause I will,” Yu Gyeong said as she smirked evilly.</p>
<p>    “No, no I’ll do it,” Jang Mi sighed as she took her phone back from Yu Gyeong.</p>
<p>    “Are you sure?”</p>
<p>    “Yeah,”</p>
<p>    Yu Gyeong shrugged as she let Jang Mi take over and text Felipe a piece of her mind. We all watched her type away on her phone as she furiously tapped the phone screen and probably wrote an entire paper to send to Felipe and probably told him 13 reasons why she was going to go to Korea.</p>
<p>    After a few minutes of typing and then erasing a lot of things, she finally sent the message. She let go a huge sigh as she looked at all of us.</p>
<p>    “I think that should do it,” she smiled happily.</p>
<p>    We all had questionable expressions but we didn’t say anything. We just supported whatever Jang Mi could have possibly said to her, now ex-boyfriend.</p>
<p>    Five minutes later Felipe replied.</p>
<p>    We tried our best to stay positive and I think Yu Gyeong and Hyun Ok were more then likely ready to fuck him up if he said anything to hurt Jang Mi.</p>
<p>    Jang Mi unlocked her phone and read through the message that Felipe sent her. We were all waiting for her to read it out loud or say something. We were all on edge and anyone could sense the tension building up in the living room.</p>
<p>    “Well I’m now single!” she smiled happily at us. We all breathed a sigh of relief.</p>
<p>    “So Korea here we come!” I chimed happily.</p>
<p>    Yu Gyeong rolled her eyes as everyone else cheered happily.</p>
<p>    “But what did you say to him? And what did he say?” Mi Na asked curiously.</p>
<p>    “All I said was that I was going to go to Korea no matter what because this was the best job opportunity that has been offered to me since graduation and that if he didn’t like it then we should break up. I even told him that he should just stop texting me. Then he replied that I’m just too dedicated to Korea and my favorite idols that I never put all my attention towards him. That he feels like he’s being pushed aside, but that he will grant my wish of breaking up and going to Korea,” she shrugged.</p>
<p>    “Oh, it wasn’t as dramatic as I thought it was going to be,” Hyun Ok commented.</p>
<p>    Jang Mi glared at her as Hyun Ok stuck her tongue out at her.</p>
<p>    “Well good riddance,” A Yeong nodded her head.</p>
<p>    “Time to get packing!” Mi Na cheered as she stood up and headed to her room.</p>
<p>    “Wait for me!” Hyun Ok jumped up and ran after her.</p>
<p>    “So this is really happening?” Yu Gyeong sighed as she stood up and crossed her arms.</p>
<p>    “Yes,” Jang Mi said.</p>
<p>    “Alright,” with heavy footsteps Yu Gyeong went back to her room. A Yeong put two thumbs up before going after Yu Gyeong.</p>
<p>    “Start packing?” I asked Jang Mi.</p>
<p>    “Yeah,” She smiled even though I knew that she was slightly hurting but I didn’t say anything as we both went back to our room.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A Week Later</p>
<p>    I don’t know about everyone else, but telling my boss and co-workers that I was moving was probably one of the hardest things I ever had to do. I’ve known everyone there for about 3 years now and of course, we all grew close. Honestly, I think we all had good work relationships. We barely ever got on each other nerves and helped each other the best we could.</p>
<p>    “You’re seriously leaving?” Anna said as she came into my now empty office. I had just about everything packed up now and was putting the last of my paperwork into the boxes.</p>
<p>    “Yeah, I am,” I smiled weakly. Anna was the first person to welcome me to Xerox when I joined, so of course, we’re even closer. Sometimes, we even out to eat or hang out during the weekends.</p>
<p>    “I wish you weren’t. Who’s going to eat with me at 2 am when I’m down? Who’s going to tell me to go back to work after a good laugh?” she sniffled as she tried to hold back her tears.</p>
<p>    “Stop it. You’re going to make me cry,” I tried to hold back the urge to cry as Anna just stared at me with teary eyes. Before I knew it, I was being bomb rushed by her as she came over to me and hugged me tightly.</p>
<p>    “Make sure to text me when you get to Korea and then video chat as much as possible okay?” she said as she sniffled even more.</p>
<p>    “Okay, don’t worry,” I said as I hugged her back.</p>
<p>    After making sure I had everything from my office, I took once last look at it before turning off the lights and closed the door. Luckily some of the guys helped me bring the rest of my stuff to the car so I didn’t have to haul everything down.</p>
<p>    “I guess this is goodbye,” I said as I approached the rest of my co-workers that were seated at their desks.</p>
<p>    Some of them looked over with sad expressions while others didn’t even want to look.</p>
<p>    “Don’t go,” one said as he looked over.</p>
<p>    “This is really hard for me, but I don’t want to let go of this opportunity. I really hope all of you understand,” I sighed. As much as I wanted to go to Korea, I couldn’t bare this.</p>
<p>    “We know. Have fun over there and make sure to keep in contact. Don’t be a stranger just because you get hired at a bigger company,” another said.</p>
<p>    “Don’t worry. I’ll keep in content and treat whoever gets my position with the same respect that you all had for me,”</p>
<p>    “We will. We’re not children,”</p>
<p>    “You kind of were,” I laughed. It felt weird because this would probably be the last laugh we would share as a group.</p>
<p>    “You better go, or else we’re not letting you leave,” Anna said as she pushed me towards the exit.</p>
<p>    “Alright alright. Bye guys! I really hope to see you all again,” I waved as Anna pulled me towards the elevator. I knew she was doing it because she wanted her final moments with me.</p>
<p>    She pushed the elevator button to go down. As we waited she gripped my shirt sleeve tightly as tears rolled down her cheeks.</p>
<p>    “Anna-“</p>
<p>    “No, let me be,” she sniffled. The elevator dinged as the doors rolled open. We both got on and she pushed the button for the 1st floor.</p>
<p>    Once we got to the parking lot, she walked me all the way to my car.</p>
<p>    “We’ll see each other again right?”</p>
<p>    “Of course! I can always come and visit or you can go to Korea,” I laughed. She slightly smiled even though she seemed really heartbroken, but who wouldn’t be when your boss/co-worker/best friend, was leaving.</p>
<p>    “Alright. Well bye,” she pulled me into a hug before pulling away to look at me, then she let go and walked away. With a heavy sigh, I unlocked my car and got in. Turning on my car, I put it into drive and drove off into the busy Austin streets to head back to the apartment to pack everything else before the movers got there in a few days.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>3 Days Later</p>
<p> </p>
<p>    "WAKE UP!" Mi Na screamed as she hurled herself onto my make-shift bed "Come on Today's the day! We are actually going to Korea!!!" </p>
<p>    I could barely open my eyes as I reached to check the time on my phone: it was 2 am. Mi Na was definitely not a morning person but when she was excited time didn't exist. Don't get me wrong I was excited, but I at least needed some coffee before I could even begin to process what was going on.</p>
<p>    I heard Jang Mi groaning as Mi Na got up and went over to shake her awake. We were all sleeping in the living room since all of our furniture was taken by the movers. We had laid out some blankets on the floor and tried to sleep.</p>
<p>    “Come on! Get up!” she yelled.</p>
<p>    “Could you not?” I rasped as I tried to open my eyes but my pillow was pulling me back to sleep.</p>
<p>    “We need to put what’s left in our suitcases and head out because our flight is at 6 am! We need to call for two Ubers!” she urged as she shook me back awake. Hyun Ok groaned next to me as she hit me in the face with her hand as she moved around.</p>
<p>    “Watch it!” I whined as I shifted away from her.</p>
<p>    “Come on. Up!” Mi Na pulled on my arm but I wasn’t about to budge.  “Wake up! You can sleep on the plane! It’s a 19-hour flight anyway!”</p>
<p>   “Yeah okay,” I yawned as my head sank deeper into my pillow.</p>
<p>    We all agreed that we would get a flight with the least amount of layovers. We all wanted to have a direct flight but we were just being cheap even though we had the money to get a direct flight in first class. We had decided that one layover was enough and decided that our best option was a layover in LAX even though A Yeong told us not to, but we wanted to get to Seoul in the afternoon. Plus the only one who didn’t have to pay for her ticket was Jang Mi.</p>
<p>    “Is everyone awa-“ A Yeong said as she came out of her room. She probably went to the bathroom to shower and get ready.</p>
<p>    “Get up,” she came towards me to shake me awake. “You’re the only one that isn’t awake. Even Yu Gyeong is awake and getting ready,” A Yeong said sternly.</p>
<p>    I was so tired, maybe I should have gone to sleep earlier but oh well.</p>
<p>    “Fine fine, I’m up,” I sighed as I pulled the covers and got up. A Yeong quickly picked up all the blankets and placed them into the spare suitcase.</p>
<p>    I went to my now empty room to go to the bathroom to shower and get ready. It was going to be a long day, and I knew that we were all going to be jet-lagged.</p>
<p>    Once I showered and brushed my teeth, I placed the rest of my stuff in the suitcase as I grabbed my shoes and hauled my backpack and suitcase out of the room.</p>
<p>    Everyone else except Hyun Ok was sitting on the floor with droopy eyes. At least I wasn’t the only one.</p>
<p>    “Our Ubers are here,” A Yeong said as she yawned.</p>
<p>    “HYUN OK!” Yu Gyeong yelled for the maknae to hurry.</p>
<p>    “Coming!”</p>
<p>    She came out also hauling her suitcase and backpack. She was having trouble but Mi Na went to help her out.</p>
<p>    “Alright, last time to check to make sure we have everything,” A Yeong said as she stood up. Everyone sighed before going to spot check the apartment to make sure we weren’t leaving anything behind. It was bittersweet. We’ve lived here for about 3 and a half years and of course, made a lot of memories, but we were about to leave for Korea where a lot more memories were going to be made. I was nervous but excited.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>    By the time we arrived at the airport, it was 3:30 in the morning. We unloaded everything from our Ubers and dragged our tired selves into the not so busy airport. We went towards the American Airlines area to check-in and surprisingly there was staff waiting for passengers.</p>
<p>    “Good Morning!” a lady probably not much older than us greeted. It was too early in the morning for her cheery self.</p>
<p>    “Good morning,” we all groaned with the exception of Mi Na who smiled widely.</p>
<p>    The lady only blinked towards us, before shaking it off so she could assist us.</p>
<p>    “What flight are you all taking today,”</p>
<p>    “The 6:15 to LAX,” A Yeong said as she took charge while the rest of looked like zombies. Even though Jang Mi should have been the most excited one, it was actually Mi Na who was all gitty and jumping around the whole time. Jang Mi had rested her head on my arm as I was starting to fall asleep. Hyun Ok and Yu Gyeong were leaning on each other as they both started to nod off.</p>
<p>    “May I see passports please,”</p>
<p>    “Yup. A Yeong pulled out all of our passports from her bag and handed them over,”</p>
<p>    After checking whatever she had to and typed a few things into the computer, the lady behind the counter was ready for our suitcases.</p>
<p>    “Guys,” A Yeong nudged all of us.</p>
<p>    “Huh? What?” Hyun Ok looked at A Yeong with the most tired face ever.</p>
<p>    “Luggage,”</p>
<p>    “Oh,” we all mindlessly pushed our luggage over to be weighted and so the lady could put the sticker on it.</p>
<p>    “I’m sorry about them. They’re just tired,” A Yeong apologized.</p>
<p>    “Oh no, it’s okay. I completely understand. I had to be here at 1 in the morning so it’s okay!” the lady said as she weighted suitcases and attached the stickers to them.</p>
<p>    After about five minutes, she printed out our tickets and placed one in each of our passports.</p>
<p>    “Enjoy your flight. Thank you for flying with American Airlines,” she said as she handed back the passports.</p>
<p>    “Thank you,” we all said before moving on towards security.</p>
<p>    “I hate this,” I muttered as we slowly made our way to the security checkpoint.</p>
<p>    We all approached the checkpoint and the security guards all looked at us as they got everything ready for us.</p>
<p>    “Take off your shoes and any bracelets and belts. Make sure to take out your computers from your bags,” they said as they passed us trays.</p>
<p>    We all placed our carry-ons on the metal conveyor belt before taking off our backpacks and unzipped them to put each of our computers in a separate bin.</p>
<p>    Jang Mi was the first one up, so she did as they said. I honestly hated doing this, but I had no choice. At least it was early so it was just us, so we could take our sweet ass time. Luckily, we were all wearing leggings with t-shirts so it wasn’t a big deal. I was wearing comfortable sandals, I just slipped them off and threw them into the bin. I was the last one to pass through the metal detector and some other scan things have and of course, it went off on me.</p>
<p>    “Can you come over here please?” one of the ladies asked.</p>
<p>    With a blank expression, I went over to where they wanted me to and they patted me down.</p>
<p>    “There’s a red area around her shoulder blades,” of the guys said as he checked the monitor for the large scanner.</p>
<p>   She patted that area away and shook her head.</p>
<p>    "There’s an object between her shoulder blades,” he insisted. At that moment, I remembered that I had gone to get a tracking device implanted into my body. I decided that on between my shoulder blades was best because no one would be able to see the bump that would persist for a while.</p>
<p>    She looked at me and everyone else raised their eyebrows at me.</p>
<p>    Someone brought her a metal detector and she scanned my back.</p>
<p>    “What do you have? Are you hiding something?”</p>
<p>    I wasn’t sure if I should tell them cause I knew they were going to question it, but I was losing my patience so I decided to say what it was.</p>
<p>    “It’s a tracking device I have implanted under my skin. You know, kind of what dogs get but with better technology. I designed and created it myself,” I said as I looked at her blankly as I explained.</p>
<p>    “I totally forgot about it until now cause I got it a few years ago. Just in case, because you never know right? So I’m good right?”</p>
<p>    The security guards looked at each other and shrugged.</p>
<p>    “O-Okay. Yeah go ahead,” I knew that they thought I was weird, but whatever. At least if something ever happens to me then my family or even my friends know where to find me.</p>
<p>    Sighing, I went over to grab my stuff and head towards the five other girls that were waiting.</p>
<p>    “Finally,” Yu Gyeung said as she rolled her eyes. I put on my shoes and shoved my computer into my backpack before following</p>
<p>    “How could you forget about that?” A Yeong asked as I walked towards our terminal.</p>
<p>    “It slipped my mind,” I shrugged as I held onto my small suitcase as I rolled it through the smooth floor of the airport. It was eerily quiet, but then again it was like 4 in the morning.</p>
<p>    “I’m hungry,” Yu Gyeong groaned.</p>
<p>    “Let’s get some food,” Mi Na agreed as she looked at our available choices.</p>
<p>    “Well, there’s like 2 or 3 things we could get,” Hyun Ok said as she looked around. The Austin airport wasn’t big so of course, there wasn’t much choice.</p>
<p>    “Just get something to fill our stomachs,” A Yeong said as she headed towards a coffee shop.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>    Once we had our fill of coffee, coffee cakes, and muffins, we made our way towards our terminal. By then it was about 5:30 AM so we should be boarding the plane soon. Sitting down, Hyun Ok and Mi Na ate whatever was left of their food as Jang Mi calmly sipped on her coffee. Yu Gyeong had eaten everything she had ordered back the shop while the rest of us had taken what we had with us.</p>
<p>    By then, I was wide awake because I had my morning iced coffee. Hopefully, we would start boarding because my anxiety level was through the roof.</p>
<p>    Not even 15 minutes later, the flight attendants were calling for our flight to start boarding. We had stood up and went to line up before everyone else could get ahead of us.</p>
<p>    Of course, the first class was called first. Luckily we were second to go in after first class so it wasn’t all that bad.</p>
<p>    Then we were next. We all looked at each other and smiled before handing our passports and tickets to the flight attendant.</p>
<p>    Once she checked all of us in, we all walked down the long hallway that leads to the plane.</p>
<p>    “I can’t believe this is happening,” Jang Mi said.</p>
<p>    “First LA then Incheon. We need to leave the country first,” A Yeong said all technical.</p>
<p>    “Yeah okay,”</p>
<p>    As we reached the entrance to the plane, the captain and another flight attendant greeted us. We slowed made our way through the narrow aisle of the plane as we tried to find our seats.</p>
<p>    “D1 through D6,” Hyun Ok read our seats out.</p>
<p>    “I call the window seat!” I said as I threw my bag into the seat and looked up to shove my carry on into the overhead compartment. I then went to take my seat as everyone else was waiting on me. Jang Mi shoved her carry on into the overhead compartment before sitting next to me. </p>
<p>    Mi Na sat next to Hyun Ok and A Yeong and Yu Gyeong were sitting next to each other. Mi Na and Hyun Ok were behind me and Jang Mi, so they kept bothering us as the rest of the passengers filed onto the planed.</p>
<p>    “Stop it,” I glared at Hyun Ok through the small opening between the seats.</p>
<p>    Hyun Ok only laughed as I shook my head as I turned back around.</p>
<p>    “This damn maknae,” I muttered under my breathe. Hang Mi heard what I said and laughed</p>
<p>    “What’s so funny?” Hyun Ok questioned as she stood up to look down on us.</p>
<p>    “None of your business. Now sit down,” Jang Mi said as she looked at the younger girl.</p>
<p>    “Could you all just stop it already?” A Yeong hissed at us from across the aisle.</p>
<p>    “No,” we all said in unison causing laughter to erupt from the four of us. A Yeong only glared at us as Yu Gyeung blasted her music through her headphones.</p>
<p>    After calming down, we all sat there anxiously waiting for the plane to take off. About 15 minutes passed before the flight attendants made sure everything and everyone was okay. The captain started talking through the intercom.</p>
<p>    “Good morning ladies and gentlemen. It is currently 6:15 in the morning. We are about to move away from the gate so please fasten your seatbelt. Thank you for flying with American Airlines,”</p>
<p>    Seconds later, the plane started moving and we were off. We all looked over to each other before leaning back and enjoyed the ride.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>3 and a half hours later</p>
<p> </p>
<p>   We finally arrived at LAX. The flight felt short, but then again we ended falling asleep for most of it.</p>
<p>    Heading out of the plane, we walked down another long hallway before reaching the terminal. It was packed with people as we walked out and tried to figure where our next terminal would be.</p>
<p>    “I think it’s this way,” Yu Gyeong pointed to the direction.</p>
<p>    “No, I think -“</p>
<p>    “Do you ladies need help?” an employee asked as he pulled up in one of those airport carts. </p>
<p>    “Yes!” Mi Na nodded her head.</p>
<p>    He looked at our tickets and smiled. “I can take you there,”</p>
<p>    “Thank god!” Yu Gyeong exclaimed. He picked up our carry-ons and placed them into the cart as we climbed on.</p>
<p>    Once situated, he took off towards our terminal. Our flight wasn’t in about 3 hours, so we weren’t rushing or anything. We were mostly looking at a place to eat as we passed by the various restaurants.</p>
<p>    “Here you ladies are,” he smiled as he stopped in front of our terminal. We all got off and thanked him.</p>
<p>    “I’m hungry,”</p>
<p>    “Me too,”</p>
<p>    “Let’s eat,”</p>
<p>   " We have time to kill anyway,"</p>
<p>    Just like that, we headed towards the nearest restaurant.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>About 2 and a half hours later</p>
<p> </p>
<p>   “This is it!” Mi Na said excitedly as she jumped with joy.</p>
<p>    “Calm down,” Yu Gyeong looked at her with a judging look.</p>
<p>    Just then, they called for our flight to start lining up.</p>
<p>    Of course, we all rushed to be first even though the first class was going to go in first anyway.</p>
<p>    “Why didn’t we get tickets for first class?” Hyun Ok sighed as passengers lined up.</p>
<p>    “Cause it was expensive. Remember?”</p>
<p>    “I could have gotten them,” Jang Mi smirked.</p>
<p>    “Shut it,” I said as I lightly shoved her.</p>
<p>    She grinned as I laughed at her. It was safe to say that we were excited about this, even Yu Gyeong, surprisingly. So much waited for us, and I wanted to see it for myself. First Class really should just hurry up and board. I couldn’t wait any longer, I just wanted to push my way through and get on the plane already. But I knew I had to wait even though I was trying my best not to overreact.</p>
<p>    I wanted what was in store for not only me but for the rest of us. I just hoped it was all good and nothing bad. We need a fresh start and this was it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>13 hours. 13 total hours in the air. So close to space but not quite there. 13 hours of confinement, even though the seats were comfortable. Jang Mi was looking out the window, the sun was out but there was nothing below us but what looked like a sprawling forest. The scenery was amazing and I wondered where we were.</p><p>I do believe we were about 6 hours into our flight, but it was going to be a long and grueling rest of 7 hours. I wanted off the plane because my claustrophobia was kicking in and my anxiety was through the roof. I think it was just because of my excitement but also because of the confinement I was feeling.</p><p>Earlier, the flight attendants served food and honestly, it was one of the driest foods I have ever had. But I couldn’t really complain because well I paid for it.</p><p>Now they were passing out snacks for the 2nd time around. Mostly everyone was fast asleep when they passed by so they just skipped them.</p><p>One of the flight attendants came over to me and Jang Mi since both of us were wide awake.</p><p>“What would you like?”</p><p>“I’ll have water and some crackers,” I said. The flight attendant handed me both before looking at Jang Mi.</p><p>“I’ll have the same as her,”</p><p>“Alright. Enjoy,” she smiled before pushing the cart further down the aisle.</p><p>As we ate the snacks, I decided to look out the window to see the scenery below. This time we were over water and I wondered if we were somewhere over Alaska on the same day or past the International Date Line above Russia the next day.</p><p>“Do you think we’re in the past or the future?” I asked Jang Mi as I turned towards her.</p><p>She looked at me confused.</p><p>“Are we still on Friday or are we on Saturday?”</p><p>If you really thought about it, it was weird how these kinds of flights worked. It was seriously starting to give me a headache the further I thought about it.</p><p>“I don’t know,” she shrugged as she looked utterly confused.</p><p>“Nevermind,” I sighed as I turned back to look out the window. </p><p>    <br/><strong>Arrival to Incheon Airport</strong></p><p> </p><p>“WE'RE HERE!” Mi Na exclaimed as she jumped up and down.</p><p>“Cool it, we still need to go through immigration,” Yu Gyeong said as she rolled her eyes.</p><p>“That’s going to be a pain in the ass,” I muttered as I picked up my luggage and followed the steady stream of people going down the hallway. Some were rushing to go through immigration while others, like us, were taking their time even though I’m sure all of us wanted to bomb rush the whole place.</p><p>“We wouldn’t know,” shrugged A Yeong.</p><p> I kept forgetting that none of them have ever traveled out of the country before. I mentally face-palmed as we neared immigration. Of course, it was going to be packed. Of course, it was going to take like an hour or even 2 hours before we got to see freedom.</p><p>“Well it's hell, especially going back to the U.S,” I sighed as I remembered the many times I had traveled out of the country with my family.</p><p>Even as we figured out which line we had to get into, the lines kept getting longer and longer.</p><p>“Get your passports and visas out,” I told the girls as I pulled my own out.</p><p>They followed my lead as we inched our way forwarded.</p><p>“Do we need to go individually or as a group?” Mi Na asked.</p><p>“We’re traveling together, aren’t we? So we go as a group,” I never had a problem whenever I traveled with co-workers and went as a group so I don’t see why we would have a problem now.</p><p>“Alright, if you say so,”</p><p>“But where are we even staying?” I asked as I mentally face palmed because I totally forgot about that. I knew they were going to ask and I needed an answer.</p><p>“Oh, I looked this place up on the plane. We can stay at this Airbnb,” Hyun Ok said as she pulled out her phone and went to search for whatever it was.</p><p>“See,” she said as she showed me where we could be staying.</p><p>“I actually already booked it and paid the security deposit. So it’s ours for a whole 2 weeks until we find a place,” Hyun Ok smiled content with her accomplishment.</p><p>“Good job, but what’s the address?” I asked.</p><p>“Oh, hold on,” she said she searched for the address.</p><p>Once she found it, she gave me the address and I wrote it down so I could have it on hand when they would ask.</p><p>The line was slowly inching its way forward. Some of the security guards were fast with the process while others were slow or some people were just having some really hard times getting their stuff together.</p><p>After about 45 minutes or even more, it honestly felt like forever, we were finally next. We gathered our stuff and rushed over to the counter.</p><p>“Hello good evening,” the guard said in English.</p><p>“H-Hi,” I said nervously. It wasn’t because he was cute or anything, I was just anxious and wanted to get out of here. But he was cute, nonetheless.</p><p>“Passports and visas ladies,” he told us.</p><p>We handed him both documents as he went through each one individually and checked that our information matched on each one before stamping a page in our passports.</p><p>“Where are you all staying? I need an address,”</p><p>“We’re staying at an Airbnb. The address is Hongik University Stn. Hongdae, Seodaemun-gu,”</p><p>“Okay,” he nodded his head before finishing up with the passports and typed something onto the computer.</p><p>On he was finished with each one of our passports, he handed them all back. I grabbed them as he smiled at us.</p><p>“Enjoy your trip ladies. Have a nice day,”</p><p>“Awesome,” I whispered as we rushed out from the immigration checkpoint and followed the signs down to the luggage pick-up.</p><p>“I was holding my breath,” Jang Mi breathed as we walked down the long hallway of the airport and made our down the escalators.</p><p>“Well, we’re almost home free,” I smiled as I picked up the pace to the luggage pick-up.</p><p>Once we got to the area to pick up our bags, we looked for where they had our bags. We check the monitors for each arrival and finally located our flight.</p><p>There were a lot of people from the flight as they gathered around the conveyor belt as luggage slowly passed us all.</p><p>“There’s mine!” A Yeong exclaimed as she pushed her way through people to get her suitcase. She dragged her suitcase off the conveyor belt before checking it for any signs of damage. She shrugged before pulling the handle up to roll it over to us.</p><p>"I"ll watch the stuff, go and find your suitcases," she said as she dropped her backpack to the floor. The rest of us looked at each other before taking off our own backpacks and setting them on the floor next to hers. We all shuffled over to the conveyor belt to see if we could spot our suitcases.</p><p>"What does yours look like again?" Jang Mi asked me as she searched for hers.</p><p>"It has a blue ribbon on it. It's a hard black suitcase with Calvin Klein on it," I said as I tried spotting it. My carry-on and backpack matched the large suitcase. Although it was a pretty penny for all three items, I honestly loved it because it was on sale.</p><p>"Found mine!" Mi Na exclaimed as she excused herself through the crowd to get to her suitcase. She too dragged it off the conveyor belt before making her way back towards A Yeong. After waiting a few more minutes, we all managed to find out suitcases except Yu Gyeong.</p><p>“Hey I can’t find mine,” Yu Gyeong said as she paced up and down the conveyor belt. There were fewer and fewer people by it and after a few more minutes it stopped as staff went to line up luggage that wasn’t claimed.</p><p>“Maybe it’s over there,” I pointed as we all went over there.</p><p>"I'm going to go get two carts," A Yeong said as she went over to grab two carts while the rest of us went to see if we could find Yu Gyeong’s bag.</p><p>“Do you see it?” Jang Mi asked as she searched the rows of luggage.</p><p>“Nooo!” Yu Gyeong whined as we continued to search. I decided to go over to the counter to see if maybe they could track it down.</p><p>“Excuse me,” I said as I went over. It was honestly weird speaking Korean to someone that wasn’t family but I was going to have to get used to it. The lady behind the counter looked up as I approached.</p><p>“How can I help you?” she asked.</p><p>“My friend can’t find her bag and I wanted to make sure it arrived,” I said.</p><p>“What flight?”</p><p>I told her the flight number and Yu Gyeong’s information.</p><p>“It arrived at Incheon. Is it not out there?” she asked.</p><p>“No,”</p><p>“Maybe someone grabbed it by accident. If they do return it then we will give you a call,”</p><p>“Oh, we don’t have a Korean phone number,”</p><p>She looked at me like I was a lost cause, but smiled.</p><p>“We can send you an email or something,”</p><p>“Oh that works,” I said as I wrote down mine and Yu Gyeong’s email on a piece of paper and handed it to her.</p><p>“We’ll keep in contact,” she said.</p><p>Sighing heavily, I left the counter and tried to figure out how I was going to break it to Yu Gyeong.</p><p>“So what did she say?”</p><p>“It arrived, but she said that maybe someone picked it up by accident,” I said slowly as I looked over to Yu Gyeong.</p><p>“ALL MY STUFF WAS IN THERE!” she exclaimed as she grabbed me by my shoulders and shook my soul out of my body.</p><p>“Calm down, hopefully, whoever took it will either return it to the airport and they'll call me. Remember I wrote my number on there,”</p><p>“But we don’t even have service here,” Mi Na pointed out.</p><p>“You guys don’t. I do,” I smiled evilly as I showed them my phone and the full bars it had.</p><p>“What the hell?” A Yeong said as she pulled out her own phone but she had zero services.</p><p>“How come you have service and we don’t?” Hyun OK said as she also checked her phone along with everyone.</p><p>“Because of the carrier I have. It’s included in my plan. I have full data and text like normal. But I get charged for getting phone calls or making phone calls unless it’s over Wi-Fi. But in this case, it’s important. So it doesn’t matter that I’m probably going to get charged,” I explained to them as they looked at me.</p><p>“Well you’re going to let me use your phone for the Internet,” Hyun Ok said as she tried to take my phone.</p><p>“No, you're not. First, why don’t we go to the Airbnb and try to figure out what we’re going to do?” I said as I looked over to Yu Gyeong who looked like she was going to go on a rampage any second.</p><p>“Alright,” Yu Gyeong said as she placed her backpack on the cart.</p><p>"I'm going to get another one," Hyun Ok said as she fast-walked over to the carts and pulled one.</p><p>I didn't even realize how much stuff we were even traveling with. Once we got our stuff situated onto all three carts, Mi Na, A Yeong and I pushed the carts out of the luggage pick-up area down the hallway towards the exit of the airport.</p><p>But there was one last checkpoint to pass. As we got in line, it wasn't too long. It was actually moving fairly quickly.</p><p>"What now?" Hyun Ok sighed impatiently.</p><p>"You know, to make sure you're not bringing anything that could cause disease or whatever," I sighed as well. It was annoying but understandable at the same time.</p><p>"Are you going to another destination or is this your final destination?" a guard asked as we neared the exit.</p><p>"This is our final destination," I said.</p><p>"Do you have any kind of foods or anything else that is on this list?" he said as he pointed to the side of his podium.</p><p>"No, we don't," I answered.</p><p>"Alright, enjoy your trip," he said as he let us pass.</p><p>"Finally!" Jang Mi hissed as we made our way out of the double glass doors and into the main airport lobby.</p><p>"This is it! We're in motherfucking Korea!" Hyun Ok exclaimed catching some of the passing people's attention.</p><p>"Shh calm down. I know we're all excited but we need to blend in. After all, this is our parents' home country. We can't disappoint them," I hissed to the maknae.</p><p>"She has point," Mi Na nodded.</p><p>Hyun Ok rolled her eyes as we followed the crowd of people that were making their exit out of the airport.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Unknown’s POV</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“This isn’t mine,”</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p> “Look. I don’t wear bras and have a bunch of girly shit,” I glared at my best friend.</p><p>“Oh, shit,”</p><p>My words exactly. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Maybe I should return it to the airport? But that was a long drive away and I didn’t want to go all the way back there. I was already tired from our long trip and I wasn’t even sure if I was going to have time to even go with our busy schedules.</p><p>“Look there’s a number on it. Maybe you should try calling,”</p><p>“But it looks like an American number,”</p><p>“Just call damn it. You should return it. This is important to girls you know? Shit,”</p><p>Sighing heavily, I looked at the phone number that was written neatly on the tag that was hanging from the suitcase. I should really call because he was right, girls needed their stuff and by the looks of it, it’s important. But I probably was going to call after taking a nap; I was extremely tired from the trip and needed some sleep before functioning properly.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Hae’s POV</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>After catching the bus and getting all of our stuff on board, we were finally on our way to the Airbnb.<br/>    <br/>"Give me your phone Hae," Hyun Ok asked suddenly after we started leaving the airport.</p><p>"What the heck, why?" I asked, not wanting her to go on the internet like she wanted to earlier.</p><p>"I need to call the hostess for the Airbnb and let her know we're on the way. Don't worry, I'll pay for the call," she explained, her hand out waiting for the phone.</p><p>"Oh, ok go ahead." I unlocked the phone and handed it to her.</p><p>I watched her dial the number she had saved on her phone to mine and put the phone to the ear, hearing the faint ringing. After the hostess answered, I began to tune them out and looked out the bus window at the scenery.<br/> <br/>We've only been here for a couple of hours, but I could already see how beautiful Korea was. So far it was pure landscape on one side and apartments on the other.</p><p>Wanting to completely tune out everyone else, I grabbed my iPod and headphones from my bag and plugged them in to listen to some music. I was extremely tired and I’m sure that everyone else was too. Although we were very much excited for this, it had been an exhausting day, especially for Yu Gyeong.</p><p>“Here," Hyun Ok hung up the phone handing it back to me and getting up to kneel in her seat to talk to all of us. I pulled one of my earbuds out to listen to what Hyun Ok had to say.</p><p>"Ok guys, so the trip to the place is about an hour from here." She began</p><p>"An hour?! What the hell!" Yu Gyeong exclaimed, still frustrated with today.</p><p>"You'll be fine, anyways. The hostess said that it's better if we get off at the Geoman stop and take the airport railroad to the Hongik University.  It has a couple stops on the 2nd ride, but we'll arrive about 20 minutes earlier than if we head straight there." She finished, reading over the information again from her phone.</p><p>“Alright, well we have time to take a nap or take in the scenery before we get there,” A Yeong said as she pulled out her own headphones and plugged it into her phone. She sunk further into the seat before dozing off. Everyone else followed her lead as I too closed my eyes.</p><p> </p><p>After arriving at Hongik University, piling our stuff out, and leaving the underground railroad, Hyun Ok started walking in the direction of some random buildings.</p><p>"Where are you going? Isn't it around here?" A Yeoung asked, grabbing onto Hyun Ok's shoulder.</p><p>Hyun Ok gave us a confused look before changing it and started laughing a bit.</p><p>"Oh I forgot, we have to walk the rest of the way, don't worry it's not far." </p><p>"How long is it not far?" Mi Na asked, dragging her suitcase along</p><p>"10 minutes? 15 if we get lost probably," She answered, walking up the road.</p><p>We groaned at the thought of walking, everyone was pretty tired and I'm surprised Hyun Ok had the energy to continue.</p><p>It really seemed like a long walk before we finally arrived at the apartment complex.</p><p>“She said she would meet us upstairs in front of the apartment,” Hyun Ok said as we walked inside and took the elevator to the 4th floor.</p><p>Once we got to the floor, we dragged ourselves out of the elevator to go down the hallway towards the apartment. We turned the corner and saw a figure standing in front of a door.</p><p>“Mia?” Hyun Ok said as we approached the girl. At the sound of her name, she turned towards us and smiled. She was really pretty and tall. She had short hair with a really fair and clear complexion.</p><p>“Hi, there! You must be Hyun Ok right?” she said in English. Her accent was really good.</p><p>“Yes, so how does this work?”</p><p>“Well, I’m going to hand you the keys and for every week you’re here you’ll receive a 7 percent discount. You’ll check out with me at the end of your stay. Since you already paid in advance then that’s it, unless you have any questions?”</p><p>“No, I think we’re good. It’s been a long day so we’re all tired,”</p><p>“I bet. Well, welcome to Korea! Enjoy your stay! If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to call me!” she smiled before handing Hyun Ok the keys and left us to go inside.</p><p>Hyun OK unlocked the door and we all pushed our way inside the Airbnb.</p><p>"This is way nicer than I thought!" exclaimed Yu Gyeong as she dropped her things on the wood floors of the fairly spacious place.</p><p>"Okay so there are two rooms with twin beds and one with queen beds," Hyun Ok said pointing towards the rooms.</p><p>"We call the queen beds!" Both Jang Mi and I exclaimed.</p><p>"Fine alright," Hyun Ok rolled her eyes as she walked around the apartment.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Jang Mi’s POV</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Hae and I shuffled into the room with the double beds as Hae went over to the bed that was next to the wall.<br/>   <br/>“I claim this one. No way am I sleeping next to the window,” she said as she dumped her stuff on the bed.</p><p>I simply laughed at her as I went over to the next bed and did the same. The room was simple but elegant. The entire apartment was cream-colored with white and light yellow accents. I really loved how Mia decorated the place. Hopefully, we found a place similar to this one.</p><p>But we would have to find a place that was near Starship so my commute wouldn’t be so long. I didn’t even realize how big Seoul really was, but we would probably get used to it. I don’t even think Austin compares to Seoul at all.</p><p>“WHAT THE FUCK!”</p><p>Hae and I looked at each other before looking out the door to see Yu Gyeong looking really pissed at Hyun Ok.</p><p>“What’s going on?” Hae asked as she stood by the door.</p><p>“There’s only one motherfucking bathroom! How the fuck are we supposed to manage when there’s six of us!?” Yu Gyeong exclaimed as she seemed to get angrier by the minute.</p><p>“What? One bathroom?” I said as we all turned to Hyun Ok who only shrugged.</p><p>“I mean… there were no other options really. We’ll survive,” she shrugged as she went back to her room.</p><p>Both Hae and I sighed before retreating back to our room. I shut the door behind as Hae unpacked a few things before setting her stuff down on the floor.</p><p>“I’m so tired. I’m going to go shower and go to sleep. I’m sure we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. When do you have to report to your job?”</p><p>“I don’t know. That’s what I wanted to check,” I said as I went over to my backpack to pull out my computer to look at the email they sent me.</p><p>“Okay well let me go before A Yeong goes in there. God knows she takes forever,”</p><p>I laughed as Hae left the room to rush to the bathroom.</p><p>Unlocking my computer, I made sure to connect to the Wi-Fi and open up the email to see what they said. As I read it, I realized that the office was all the way in the Gangnam District. On the other side of Seoul! I groaned as I looked up how long the commute was going to be. Almost 50 minutes away! Austin really couldn’t be compared to Seoul.</p><p>As I continued reading, they didn’t want me to come in until 2 days from then so I was more than likely going to have to go tomorrow to make sure I took the right bus and get off at the right stops. I didn’t want to get lost on my first day.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>The Next Day</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“Are we going the right way?” Hae asked as she looked at me. I was listening to the GPS on Hae’s phone since she was the only one with data outside the Airbnb. We were on the subway on our way towards Gangnam from Hongdae and by the looks of it, we were going to be on the subway for quite some time.</p><p>“I really hope so,” I blinked as I looked around. Luckily, it wasn’t rush hour so there was barely anyone on the subways. All of this was new to not only me but all of us. We never lived in a city with public transportation like this. We all depended on our cars in Austin. Now that I was thinking about it, would having a car here be worth it?</p><p>“We really need to find a place and quick. I don’t think I can do these long commutes every day,” I told Hae as the subway to a stop at the next station.</p><p>I glanced down to the map to make sure we didn’t need to get off here, but we still had like 10 more stops to go. </p><p>“Yeah, especially if the rest of us finds a job in the Gangnam-district,” she said. Hae was right, if the rest of them did find jobs in the Gangnam district then we would have to either find a place within the district or in the neighboring districts. These commutes were ridiculous, but I was pretty sure there were some people who had no choice.</p><p>After reaching our stop, we got off and headed out of the subway station to the above-ground to figure out where we had to go.</p><p>“You’re going to have to do this for the next week or so,” Hae said as she too looked around.</p><p>“I know,” I sighed as I looked up and down the street to figure out where in the world I was. Once I figured out my orientation I made sure I was going to head the right way.</p><p>“We have to walk the rest of the way. It says that’s just a 4-minute walk,” I said as I pointed to the direction of the building.</p><p>“Are you sure?” Hae questioned.</p><p>“Of course,” but it was all a lie. I was not sure at all, but I had to keep it together. We had to find our way.</p><p>I looked down at the map on the phone making sure that the blue dot was moving in the right direction and luckily it was. I breathed a sigh of relief as we walked down the somewhat busy sidewalk.</p><p>We turned a corner and it said it was going to be on my left. As I looked up at the building, it said ‘Starship Entertainment’.</p><p>“This is it,” I breathed as I looked at the building in awe. I still couldn’t believe any of this. I couldn’t’ believe that I was really here in front of Starship. I was steps away from the main entrance and maybe even seeing my favorite group of all time.</p><p>“So now what?” Hae asked as she brought me back from my little awe-struck moment.</p><p>“I don’t know,”</p><p>Hae looked at me as if she was going to kill me.</p><p>“Well since we are in Gangnam we could check out all the shopping places and what’s to do. I honestly want to go to Itaewon but that’s going to have to wait. Or I can see if I can find a job around here,” she said as she grabbed her phone out of my hands to search for something on the Internet.</p><p>“Let’s go shopping. I need some new gym clothes,” I said as I took in the building one last time before turning to face the street.</p><p>“Don’t you have enough gym clothes? Jeez. Oh, let’s go to the COEX mall it's like 15 minutes away if we take the subway,” Hae said as she looked up the directions on her phone.</p><p>“That gives us the chance to get familiar with the subway lines and all that,” I said as I waited for her to start walking.</p><p>“You’re right,”</p><p> </p><p>After walking back towards the station we came from, we took the subway heading towards the COEX mall and got off there.</p><p>Both of us were surprised by just how large it looked.</p><p>“It’s supposed to be the largest underground mall in the world,” Hae said as she looked down at her phone.</p><p>“Damn. Well, you already know where I’m going. What about you?” I asked as we followed the crowd inside the giant mall.</p><p>“I don’t know. Probably have a look around,” she said as she soaked in the large but very nice environment. Even for it being underground, it was very much bright.</p><p>"Let’s meet up here in like an hour or so?” she said as she looked at her watch to see the time.</p><p>“Fine with me,” we both smiled at each other before going in opposite directions. I honestly didn’t know where the hell I was going and I’m pretty sure Hae didn’t have a clue where she was going either. Honestly, we should have stuck together but it seemed like Hae wanted to explore more than shop.</p><p>Well, this gave me a chance to be independent in a foreign country at least, but then I realized I didn’t have a way to communicate with her if anything were to happen. Then again, I was sure that nothing wasn’t going to happen. I just had to remember how to get back to our meeting place.</p><p>Sighing, I continue to walk down the long hallway of the mall. It wasn’t too packed so I was able to walk calmly as I looked at all the shops and everything that the mall had to offer. It was so huge, that I think it would take about a day or two to fully explore this place.</p><p>I don’t know how long or how far I walked, but I was finally able to find a sporting goods store. Walking inside, it was nice and fancy and there were rows and rows of racks full of fitness clothes.</p><p>Browsing the racks, I saw plenty of clothes that I liked, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to afford the full-priced clothes. So I decided to go look at the clearance items.</p><p>“Can I help you?” one of the sales associates asked as I walked towards the back to the clearance racks.</p><p>Luckily, I was able to understand her since she was speaking in Korean. It was all new to me. I was so used to hearing people speaking in English that it took me a moment to respond to her. She stared at me as if I was crazy or something.</p><p>“N-No, I’m fine. Thank you. I’m just looking,” I responded back in Korean although I felt that it was terrible.</p><p>“Alright, well if you need anything my name is Kim Ji Na,” she smiled before disappearing behind some tall racks of clothes.</p><p>Sighing, I was seriously going to have to work on my Korean. I wondered how Hae was holding up.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I wasn’t sure how long I was in there for, but it felt like it was a long time. I looked down at my watch and saw I had about 15 minutes before I had to meet Hae back at the entrance of the mall.</p><p>    Walking out of the store, I wasn’t paying attention as I was lost in thought about everything that has happened so far, when I suddenly bumped into someone. I dropped the two bags I had full of the clothes I had bought.</p><p>    “I’m so-“ I paused when I realized that I was speaking in English.</p><p>    “Sorry,” I switched to Korean as I slightly bowed remembering that we have to do that here.</p><p>     "Don't worry, I wasn't paying attention. Let me help you,"</p><p>    The stranger helped pick up my bags as he handed them to me, I realized that I recognized him but I couldn’t figure out how or why because he was wearing a black mask and a hat but he had it on backward. All of a sudden, I heard a few gasps and someone yells:</p><p>    “That’s JOOHEON!” </p><p>    Everyone around us freaked out and started gathering around us. Jooheon instantly grabbed my wrist and pulled me through the crowd as he turned his hat around and tried hiding his face as he picked up the pace.</p><p>    “WAIT!” a fan yelled causing him to break out into a run. At that point, I wasn’t sure what was real or not. I wanted to freak out myself but I couldn’t at that very moment. I wasn’t even sure where we were going. Everything was going by so fast as I heard screams from fans as they followed us.</p><p>    Jooheon seemed to pick up his pace as we continued to run. I was starting to grow a little tired; good thing I exercised regularly because otherwise I would have been wiped out a long time ago.</p><p>    We turned a corner and ran for maybe 2 or 3 more blocks before slowing down and he pulled me towards a nearby store. Quickly we went inside and went towards the back to hide.</p><p>    Both of us were breathing hard as he turned to see if anyone saw, I looked up towards him as sweat was rolling down his face. I don’t know what possessed me at that very moment, but with my free hand, I reached up and wiped the sweat away from his face. Surprised by the sudden touch he jerked back around to face me to only stare at me dumbfounded.</p><p>       “I-I’m sorry,” I quickly said as I bowed. My heart was pounding a million miles per second and I wanted the ground to swallow me up at that very moment.</p><p>    With his gummy smile, he smiled at me causing my heart to melt even more than it already has.</p><p>    “We should get going before they discover where we are,” he said as he grabbed my wrist again. I swear my entire body can’t handle more of this. My friends are going to have to prepare an early funeral because I can already see myself dying any second now.</p><p>    Once Jooheon carefully checked if it was clear, we quickly dashed out the store and headed towards… I don’t even know where we were even heading.</p><p>    “Where are we going?” I asked as we fast-walked towards the corner of the street.</p><p>    “Getting a taxi first,” he said as he waved his hand out and tried to flag down a taxi.</p><p>    Not even seconds later a taxi fortunately stopped and he quickly opened the door. He let me in first before jumping inside and shutting the door. He told the driver to drive away quickly before telling him an address. The taxi driver nodded his head and drove off.</p><p>    At least I wasn’t running anymore. I was extremely exhausted. Looking out the window, I held onto my bag tightly, I wondered if Hae even noticed if I was gone and if she did she wouldn’t have a way of contacting me. My heart dropped at the sudden realization that I didn’t have a clue where I was or where I was heading and I didn’t have a working phone or anything.</p><p> </p><p>    “YOU BROUGHT A GIRL HOME!?” Kihyun practically screamed at Jooheon.</p><p>    “I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t exactly go to the company either,” he shrugged as he guided me to the living room and gently nudged me to sit down. He nodded his head as if it was okay for me to sit.</p><p>    “You don’t even know her!” Kihyun continued to nag.</p><p>    “She’s pretty though!” Minhyuk flashed me a smile. I returned his smile as I didn’t know what else to do or even say. I couldn’t believe anything that was happening to me right now. It was only my 2nd day and not only did I meet the love of my life but I’m actually sitting on the couch in his dorms! I didn’t know what to do with myself at that very moment.</p><p>    “You could have taken her home or something,”</p><p>    “She just arrived here in Korea. She doesn’t remember the address to the place she’s staying,” Jooheon explained.</p><p>    “What?!” Kihyun shrieked. This time the rest of the members steadily streamed out of their rooms.</p><p>    “What’s with the noi-“ Hyungwon yawned as he rubbed his eyes to only stop mid-sentence when he realized that I was sitting there.</p><p>    “T-There's a girl,” he pointed at me.</p><p>    “Yes. Yes, there is. Thank you for the nice observation,” Kihyun rolled his eyes. I could see why he was so worried but at the same time he could take a chill pill, but I didn’t dare say anything afraid to embarrass myself. Although I was supposed to go to work tomorrow.</p><p>    Shit, I didn’t even think about that.</p><p>    “Uh… guys…” I weakly said.</p><p>    They all turned their attention towards me, while Jooheon smiled at me.</p><p>    “Yeah?”</p><p>    “I really don’t know how to say this, but I’m actually going to be working at Starship starting tomorrow. I swear I’m not a saesang or anything like that. This is pure coincidence. Jooheon bumped into me at the mall and then we both ran away from fans. I swear,” I quickly said.</p><p>    “Wait wait wait, hold up. You’re a Starship employee?” Wonho pointed at me.</p><p>    “Y-Yeah. Starting tomorrow. I swear I didn’t have any kind of intentions. I was out with my friend and we were both exploring and-“</p><p>    “We believe you don’t worry. I don't know but I feel like you would have been acting differently if you had some kind of intentions. So I at least believe you,” Hyunwoo said calmly as he shrugged. I don’t know why but that kind of calmed me because I was so nervous and scared that they wouldn’t believe a word I said.</p><p>    Sighing, Kihyun ran his fingers through his hair.</p><p>    “So what are we going to do?”</p><p>    “We should at least figure out where she’s staying,” Changkyun shrugged.</p><p>    “Shouldn’t we tell our manager,”</p><p>    “He might get angry though,”</p><p>    “And who’s fault will that be?”</p><p>    “Please, guys. If I could, could I borrow someone’s phone?” I quickly interrupted because this isn’t what I imagined when I thought about meeting them in person.</p><p>    “Here you go,” Jooheon was the first to offer his phone.</p><p>    “You don’t mind if I download an app right? It’s so I can get in touch with my friends so they can either meet you somewhere or at least tell you where I’m staying,”</p><p>    “Yeah okay. Go ahead,” he nodded his head in understanding.</p><p>    “Thank you,”</p><p>—</p><p>Hae’s POV</p><p>    For some reason, I kept watching the time every 5 minutes. I wanted to shop in peace but since we promised to meet back up in an hour, I was keeping track of time.</p><p>    I walked up and down the store just casually browsing when suddenly my phone starts ringing. I pull it out and see it’s an unknown number. I hesitated to answer it but then I remember about Yu Gyeong’s bag so I answer it.</p><p>    “H-Hello?” Not sure who would be on the other end of the line so I answered in English.</p><p>    “Yeah hi, are you perhaps looking for your suitcase?” A deep voice asked in English. I was a little shocked that it was a guy.</p><p>    “My friend is,”</p><p>    “Oh, I see. Well, do you think you and your friend can meet up with me so they can get it?”</p><p>    “Yeah, we can. Are you available right now?”</p><p>    “Well I’m on the road right now but I can definitely meet up after 4. If that’s okay with you,” he said.</p><p>    “Yeah that fine,” I said as I checked my watch to see it was only 12:30 PM so that was plenty of time to go home and tell Yu Gyeong.</p><p>    “Okay. Well, I guess I’ll text you the address and everything,”</p><p>    “Sounds like a plan to me.”</p><p>    “Alright, well… bye then,” he said awkwardly before hanging up.</p><p>    “B-Bye,” that was insanely awkward. Sighing, at least there was some good news. No longer interested in shopping at the store I was in, I decided to head out towards the meeting place. I figured by the time I got there, Jang Mi should be either on her way or be there already. She always liked being early no matter what.</p><p>    Upon arriving at the meeting place it was about 5 minutes till our hour was about up and I figured she was finishing up her shopping.</p><p>    15 minutes pass and no sign of Jang Mi. I was seriously starting to grow impatient and wondered what was taking her so long. I decided to at least give her another 10 minutes in hopes she would show up. This was unlike her but I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.</p><p>    10 minutes later… still no sign of her. I decided to call the girls back at the Airbnb through the messaging app we used.</p><p>    I dialed for Hyun Ok and it took her a good minute to finally answer.</p><p>    “What?”</p><p>    “Seriously?”</p><p>    “What?”</p><p>    Sighing, I shouldn’t be surprised by her answering like that.</p><p>    “Is Jang Mi there?”</p><p>    “No. I thought she was with you?”</p><p>    “Well, she isn’t. We came to the Coex mall and she’s nowhere to be seen,” I said as I looked around wondering if maybe she forgot where to meet or if she was lost.</p><p>     "So like, what are you going to do?" she asked</p><p>     "I don't know wait for her or something,"</p><p>     "That's up to you,"</p><p>      I felt like I was going nowhere with her.</p><p>    “Oh yeah, the person that accidentally took Yu Gyeong’s suitcase called. He wants to meet up at 4. Is Yu Gyeong around?”</p><p>    “Yeah hold up,” there was shuffling and some yelling happening on the other end but I didn’t bother asking what was going on because that was completely normal.</p><p>    “Yeah?” Yu Gyeong’s voice came through.</p><p>    “So the person who took your suitcase called. He wants to meet after 4 at some cafe,”</p><p>    “SERIOUSLY?!” Yu Gyeong yelled. I had to pull the phone away from my ear before she made my ear explode.</p><p>    “Yeah but we have a problem, I can’t find Jang Mi. I don’t even know if she’s even in the building,” I said as I walked down the stairs in hopes she was maybe downstairs or something.</p><p>    “So what do you want to do?”</p><p>    “Well, we have to go get your suitcase. So start getting ready and I’ll just head over there. Hopefully, Jang Mi is on her way over there or something,” I said as I sighed. I made my way out of the building but I looked around as I did just in case she was browsing around.</p><p>    “Alright see you then,” Yu Gyeong hung up and I walked towards the subway entrance to go back home.</p><p> </p><p>    “She’s not here?” I asked as I walked into the Airbnb to find all of them gathered in the living room.</p><p>    “Nope,”</p><p>    “You don’t think someone kidnapped her?”</p><p>    “No way,”</p><p>    “You never know~” Hyun Ok chimed. Everyone seemed doubtful but she was right. You never knew.</p><p>    “Okay let’s just go get Yu Gyeong’s suitcase and then we’ll figure out what to do,” I said as I rubbed my temples. There was no way of communicating with her or anything.</p><p>    “Let’s hope that Jang Mi is found in one piece,” A Yeong muttered.</p><p>    “Why don’t we all go looking for her?”</p><p>    “And all of you get lost? No way,”</p><p>    “I’ll go with Yu Gyeong to that cafe and then I’ll figure things out after that. I think it would be better if ya’ll stay here for now until she shows up or something,”</p><p>    “She’s right,” Mi Na agreed. “It’s not worth getting lost. That would make matters worse,”</p><p>    “I guess you’re right,” Hyun Ok sighed. I knew it wasn’t fair that only me and Jang Mi got to go out of the Airbnb but we were in a foreign country and no way of communicating with each other yet. So if they were to get lost it would be hell because they barely even spoke Korean!</p><p>    “Are you ready?” I looked over to Yu Gyeong who was admiring herself in the mirror.</p><p>    “Huh? Oh yeah,” she snapped out of whatever trance she was in and got up to head towards the door to put on her shoes.</p><p>    “We’ll see you in a little bit okay? If anything happens just call me,” I said</p><p>    “Yeah yeah,”</p><p>    Yu Gyeong and I shuffled out the door and made our way down towards the street to catch a cab.</p><p>    "You know it's only like 2:30," Yu Gyeong muttered as we got into the cab.</p><p>    "And your point is? Better to get there early than late. Plus who knows how traffic is going to be like," I shrug as I settle myself into the backseat of the taxi and the driver asks us where we want to go.</p><p>    "This address," I said in Korean as I hand him my phone and he gently takes it to have a look.</p><p>    "Okay, no problem," He responds with a smile as he hands back my phone.</p><p>    "What did he say?" Yu Gyeong leans over to me.</p><p>    "He said he'll take us," I said wondering how she was going to survive here. She was seriously going to have to learn a little Korean to get around.</p><p> </p><p>    About 45 minutes later, we finally arrived at the cafe that the guy had told us to meet.</p><p>    "We're early," Yu Gyeong pointed.</p><p>    "I realize, but at least we can enjoy a nice cup of coffee or something," I shrug as I pay the driver and make our way out the taxi onto the busy sidewalk.</p><p>    "That cafe right there right?" Yu Gyeong pointed to a cafe with white signs and had a simple but elegant feel to it.</p><p>    "Yeah I guess so," I said as we walked towards the entrance and opened the door to go inside. The smell of coffee hit my nostrils so quickly that I couldn't even process it. Yet, the smell was so delicious I was enticed to buy some coffee.</p><p>    "Want to sit over there,"</p><p>    "Sure," I said to Yu Gyeong as we walked towards a table with four chairs that were by the windows.</p><p>    "Do you know what he looks like?"</p><p>    "No idea,"</p><p>    "So how are we going to know when he gets here?!"</p><p>    "For one, he'll call or text and two he'll have your suitcase," I looked at Yu Gyeong with a judging look.</p><p>    "Oh right,"</p><p>    Rolling my eyes, I really couldn't help but to want to buy something to drink. That smell was so delicious and I just wanted more.</p><p>    "I'm getting coffee. You want something?" Yu Gyeong said as she stood up.</p><p>    "Oh yes. Iced Mocha with an extra shot of espresso," I told her</p><p>    "Okay,"</p><p>    She calmly walked towards the counter to wait in line. I was laughing internally because I was wondering how she was going to order when she didn't speak a drop of Korean. But I didn't say anything, I just let her be until she realized what she was doing. She slowly turned around to look at me with wide-eyes. Laughing I stood up and went over to her to help her order.</p><p>    The people behind her looked at her funny but the cashier had an amused expression.</p><p>    “We’ll have your order out soon,” she smiled as she handed me the change, and Yu Gyeong and I walked back towards our table.</p><p>    Not even 5 minutes later our order arrived but Yu Gyeong was growing impatient about the guy meeting us at the cafe. She grabbed her drink with an attitude as she took a sip.</p><p>    “Where is he?”</p><p>    “He should be —“ Suddenly my phone vibrates and when I check, it’s the guy with the suitcase. I quickly text him back telling him where we are and he replies with a smiley face.</p><p>    “He’s here,”</p><p>    “WHERE!?” Yu Gyeong turns around in her chair frantically to look around the cafe.</p><p>    “Calm down he should be in here pretty soon,”</p><p>    She sighed softly as she turned around in her chair to face me again. As she drank her drink a tall figure was looming over our table. Looking up I was shocked to see who it was.</p><p>    “Y-You’re ChaCha Malone,” I choked on my drink. Yu Gyeong only stared with a blank expression. She clearly didn’t know who it was and I wanted to shake some sense into her, but I held back.</p><p>    “Yeah you know me,” he smiled as he took a seat beside me. That shocked me even more because why was he sitting with us?!</p><p>    “Of course! I love AOMG!!” I practically screamed but I quickly shut my mouth because I shouldn’t be fangirling at this moment because Yu Gyeong wanted her suitcase back.</p><p>    “Umm I’m sorry but-“ I glanced down and saw Yu Gyeong’s suitcase on the floor beside ChaCha.</p><p>    “Y-You have her suitcase,” I said as I looked back up to look at him. I wanted to slap myself because how did I not recognize his voice over the phone?</p><p>    “Yeah,” he smiled towards Yu Gyeong who rolled her eyes and snatched her suitcase from him and stood up to leave.</p><p>    “Thanks,” she slightly bowed before making her way out of the cafe.</p><p>    “I’m sorry about her,”</p><p>    “Don’t worry about it. I’ll keep in contact maybe,” he smiled as he stood up and left as well. I was left alone at the table and I just hoped Yu Gyeong knew how to get back to the airbnb.</p><p>    As I sighed wondering what I was going to do about Jang Mi, I got a call from her on Line. Quickly answering it, I didn’t know if I was supposed to be relieved or what.</p><p>    “WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Originally Posted to Asianfanfics as Kissme1626</p></blockquote></div></div>
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